Neoliberalism and Kazakhstan's emerging higher education

Abstract

The Republic of Kazakhstan is one of the Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union. The ninth largest country in the world in physical size with a population of over 17 million people and significant oil, iron ore, coal, copper, and gas reserves, Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In the early 1990s, the Supreme Court of the Kazakh Social Soviet Republic declared the transition of a planned economy to a market economy. Kazakhstan’s market system has significantly impacted its emerging higher education system. Less government spending and the creation of private universities in Kazakhstan were the core strategies that have been implemented under the neoliberal policies of Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s president from independence to this year (1991-2019).